


It Wasn't Supposed to be Like This

by Aether_Staza



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A little bit of fluff, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, But has an alarming amount of angst, Champions AU, Crying, I'm coining it, Its legit sad, Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, M/M, Mild Gore, My tags are not serious enough for this, Pain, SHEITH - Freeform, SUFFER WITH ME, Samuel and Haggar are just mentioned, Sheith angst, Space Daddy needs a Break, Suffering, Violence, the au no one wanted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 13:23:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10491819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aether_Staza/pseuds/Aether_Staza
Summary: "I got in!" the younger man said, eyes shinning with excitement."Got into what?" Shiro asked a bit confused as he stood up, giving Keith his attention."The mission! I got accepted into the Kerberos mission with you, Shiro!" Keith smiled widely as he looked up to the face of his lover....Shiro wished it didn't end up like this. It wasn'tsupposedto be like this.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm baaaaaaaack~
> 
> I recently started watching Voltron soooooo... Has anyone thought of this yet? I haven't seen anything like this so far so I wanted to fulfill my filthy desires with this filthy piece of written despair.
> 
> I might draw stuff for this in my tumblr (I have the same name there) and I might tagged it as Champions AU but who knows.
> 
> So this is un-betaed. Mistakes are all mine.

Shiro was startled as Keith burst into the training room. He was alone, working on his physical condition for the tests he'll have to take soon in preparation for the Kerberos mission. As he was doing his push-ups, he couldn't help but be slightly surprised as Keith bounced into the room with a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

  
"I got in!" the younger man said, eyes shinning with excitement.

  
"Got into what?" Shiro asked a bit confused as he stood up, giving Keith his attention. He grabbed his towel from the side, placing it around his shoulders while he wiped the sweat off his brows.

  
"The mission! I got accepted into the Kerberos mission with you, Shiro!" Keith smiled widely as he looked up to the face of his lover.

  
Shiro's gray eyes lit up in realization and it only took a little while for the news to sink in. The older man suddenly laughed as he swooped the teen into his arms and lifted him up with a little spin. Keith chuckled merrily as he felt his toes lift off the ground. Once he was back on his feet, he felt the air knocked off of him as Shiro hugged him to his chest.

  
"Oof!"

  
The older man ignored the brief outburst. "I'm so proud of you, Keith!" Shiro whispered gently to his ear before he pulled away to look at him. "How did you get in? And why did you just found out about it now when I was appointed a month ago?"

  
"Well, ever since I found out the you applied for the mission, I decided to take my chances and I sent an application as your co-pilot. I didn't tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise." Keith stopped thoughtfully before he sheepishly added, "Or well, you know, you won't be disappointed if I didn't get in after all." He shrugged his shoulders.

  
Shiro frowned slightly. "Keith, you know I won't-"

  
"I know you won't but I just have stupid thoughts like that, okay?"

  
Shiro made a non-committal noise but stayed silent to let Keith continue his explanation.

  
"Well, anyway, the approval took longer because they had a lot of things to consider. In the end, they decided that I'm the best choice to be your co-pilot. They accepted the application because of my records and also because of the fact that you're already my mentor and we already have a working relationship together. It helped that I just turned eighteen a few months ago."

  
Shiro couldn't help the grin the took over his features. "So we're going to space together?" he teased lightly, feeling excited all of a sudden.

  
Keith chuckled once more. "Yes, we're going to space together," he replied to humor the man as he rolled his eyes. Now that Keith heard himself say it out loud, he could help but cringe at how cheesy it sounded. "Also, wash up. You stink of sweat and you're sticky all over." Keith wrinkled his nose.

  
"Aw, but you let this sticky, stinky mess hug you," Shiro pointed out reasonably.

  
"Yes, and I regret it now."

  
The older man looked at his lover with a playful smirk. "Not if you get to join me in the showers."

  
A pause.

  
"...well."

* * *

  
Keith and Shiro walked into the platform, an hour before the ship is ready to launch. The two pilots looked up to the majestic beauty of the vessel they were going to pilot together into a whole new different world.

  
Pretty soon though, Keith became angsty. His thoughts riddled with unspoken doubts and what-ifs. His hands wrung around his wrists and squeezed the limb in anticipation.

  
It didn't take long for Shiro to realize what was happening. The older man gently brushed the tips of his gloved fingers on his lover's arm, careful to keep the gesture platonic in public but hoping that it would still get his reassurance across.

  
It seemed to have worked when Keith gave him a small but beautiful smile. Shiro's heart warmed at the thought that he'd be able to bring that smile with him as he traveled the vast expanse of space. He couldn't be any happier at the idea.

  
"You're gonna do great," he said with a brilliant smile, his tone conveying his firm belief in the idea. Who better to stand beside him on this mission but his prodigy, his closest friend, and of course, his lover.

  
"No. _We're_ gonna do great," Keith corrected, a determined look coloring his fine features.  
Shiro chuckled softly but silently agreed.

  
They were going to be amazing.

* * *

  
The last thing Shiro remembered is the overwhelming feeling of fear and the sudden pull he felt. It felt like no matter how much he ran and how much he gripped Keith's hand, it still pulled and pulled and-

  
_Keith_.

  
The next thing Shiro knew was that he woke up with a jolt, another kind of fear chilling his bones. Fear for the one person he wanted to keep safe above all else.

  
Shiro was bound, it was the first thing he absently took note of. The pilot was then startled by the alien surroundings the greeted him but he was even more alarmed by the alien species that stood in front of him. They were huge compared to him and they regarded him with fierce disdain. The aliens were talking but he can only concentrate enough on the conversation to know that they were talking about him and his crew. Soon, he remembered what prompted him to wake up in the first place.

  
His neck twisted so fast it almost gave him a whiplash. He looked at his side and saw the Holts lined up next to each other, both still clearly unconscious. They both seemed unharmed. He spared the duo a worried glance before he turned to his left and found the person he was looking for.

  
"Keith..." he called out softly, his voice still a bit hoarse. "Keith," he repeated gaining enough volume to carry his voice to his lover's direction.

  
The young man didn't even twitch at the mention of his name. He was unresponsive but at the very least, he didn't look like he was injured or hurt.

  
Looking back to his captors, he did what he was used to doing, he tried to resolve the conflict rationally. "Please!" he called out to gain their attention. "We come from a peaceful planet! W-we mean you no harm!" his voice shook slightly at the gravity of the situation.

  
They didn't seem to hear his plead because he was suddenly aware of a sharp pain on his back and then it was black.

* * *

  
They, the galra, as Shiro learned after some time, hoarded them like cows and they lined them up to the arena like pigs waiting to be slaughtered.

  
Shiro didn't know where exactly those aliens brought Samuel Holt but for one thing, he was glad that wherever that camp was, it wasn't here. Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same for him and his other companions.

  
Shiro could feel how Matt shivered in front of him, of how the young man dreaded the fact that he had to face a monster five times his size. Shiro just knew that the young man wouldn't be able to survive the endeavor. When Matt started to become hysterical, he frantically thought of how to save his friend from such a fate.

  
Behind him, he felt a slight prickle at the back of his skin and he turned to face his lover who looked back at him with determined eyes. They exchanged looks and silently conveyed what they both thought of at the same time.

  
Keith and Shiro, they were fighters, but Matt was not. He was a scientist first and foremost. If anyone should have to face that monster, it should be them not him. This was all despite of the fact that just the thought of Keith within reach of such a monster made Shiro's gut wrench. However, he was realistic, he knew that he and Keith would have a better fighting chance compared to Matt.

  
With an unspoken agreement, Keith moved before Shiro can process what was happening. His co-pilot charged at a galran guard with a snarl and pulled a weapon away startled purple hands before he threw it to Shiro's direction, the other man catching it by reflex.

  
As Shiro read into Keith's plans and with adrenaline pumping through his veins, he charged at his friend with a mighty roar and half-meant words that sounded silly to his ears.

  
"Take care of your father," were the only words he actually meant saying as he looked down at the fallen form of his friend Matt before he was dragged away, right next to a struggling Keith.

  
"Take this one to fight," a soldier murmured to the other guards as he shoved Shiro to them. He looked back at Matt with a sneer. "Bring this one to the camps, he would be useless in the arena now."

  
Shiro hasn't heard better news in such a long time.

  
"Wait!"

  
Shiro's feeling of relief and triumph was quickly crushed as he heard Keith protest. He should have known that he couldn't save them all. If he injured Keith now, the galra would realize what he was doing and their plan would be all for naught. Deep down, Shiro also knew that Keith wouldn't let him fight on his own and it frightened him just as much as it made him love young man even more.

  
"Take me with him! I want to fight too!" Keith said, bringing about the inevitable. He struggled against the guards' hold with clenched fists and tense shoulders.

  
Shiro stiffened as he saw a guard grab Keith's chin and turned him harshly to face the purple glare of his visor.

  
"The arena does not work that way, you primitive species," he said with a low threatening growl, claws tightening on Keith's fragile skin. The young man didn't seemed bothered by the pain as he spat at the alien's face, making Shiro fear even more for the other's life.

  
The guard bared his teeth and struck Keith, making him stumble of the grasp of the guards holding him and onto the floor.

  
"Keith!" Shiro shouted, desperately trying to claw his way out of the arms restricting him. He only stopped struggling when he heard footsteps coming from another guard.

  
"Throw him with the other in the arena," barked the other galra as he approached the area, having heard of the previous argument. "It is not as if they will survive either way."

* * *

  
Sometimes Shiro thought of a world where the Kerberos mission never happened. A world where he and his other half could have lived in plain oblivious bliss, still sheltered inside their Garrison dorm.

  
Sometimes he thinks about a world where Keith wasn't accepted as his co-pilot at all. It would have been painful to experience all of these horrors by himself but maybe the thought that Keith didn't have to suffer with him will help him make it through the torture. At least then, Keith wouldn't be suffering with him.

  
The thing about thinking is that no matter how hard you think, if you do not have the means to actually do it, if its only a fantasy, it would be just that. A thought and nothing more.

  
Inside their cold prison cell, Shiro would hold Keith close and the latter would do the same.  
The pilot didn't like the idea of getting caught. He knew that the galra could use their relationship as some sort of leverage but at times like this, he couldn't help but allow the two of them this luxury. Just being able to hold Keith in his arms and knowing that against all odds, they're still okay, they're still alive, and most importantly, they're still together...

  
This made Shiro hope.

  
He hoped that nothing bad will ever happen.  
He hoped that someday, they'll make it out alive and get back to their home planet, hand in hand.

  
He hoped that at the very least, Keith made it out alive.

  
Suddenly, a familiar, dreaded clang echoed into the room and Shiro felt the color flush out of his face.

  
That certain sound either meant that they were going to be sent to the arena or worse, to the cold metal table they had been acquainted to recently. Shiro hated being left with the druids, the things they do to him, to Keith, it made them both feel less than the humans they are.

  
Quickly, the lovers untangled their limbs from one another and moved a respectable distance from the other. Both shared a tired and weary look with Shiro squeezing Keith's hand before letting go and moving his limb away just in time for the prison door to open.

  
"Champions," the galran leered with feral fangs. "It is time to fight."

  
Despite the fact that they were going to be fighting in the arena once more, Shiro could only feel relief over the fact that they weren't going back to druids. At least, not today.

* * *

  
Everything was so wrong.

  
Wrong.

  
Wrong.

  
_Wrong_.

  
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Shiro was supposed to be strong, he was supposed to be the one to protect Keith, not the other way around.

  
Just a second.

  
Shiro just lapsed in a second and everything went wrong all at once.

  
They were at the arena and Keith was just sent sideways by the large alien that was their opponent. The alien brandished a sword with its left arm and it dealt blows with its other.

  
Once Keith was pushed aside, it turned its one, beady eye to Shiro and pounced on him. With his left hand, the pilot managed to parry the blow but that left his right side open for the alien to use his sword. Out of reflex, Shiro was able to bring up his right arm in an attempt protect himself but before he knew it, there came an awful tearing sound and suddenly, pain. So much pain.

  
He was only half aware of of Keith's shout as it mingled with his own screams. It hurt so much. He couldn't think.

  
_It hurts._

  
_It hurts._

  
_It hurts._

  
Over and over, the thought repeated. There was so much blood gushing out of what once was his arm. Now it barely resembled anything that can be called an arm and all Shiro could do was look and scream.

  
_"SHIRO!"_

  
The man snapped out of his stupor just in time to see Keith body shield him. Just in time to witness how the tip of the alien's sword poked out of Keith's back. Just in time to see the body in front of him stiffen in shock. He watched as the sword was yanked out of the flesh, blood dripping from his tip, and he watched as Keith's body fell on to the floor.

  
For a second, Shiro's world paused in horror and the next, it became a whirl of color and sounds.

  
Everything else that happened after that became a blur.

  
Shiro remembered the overwhelming feeling of pain, fear, and boiling _rage_. He remembered seeing red and he remembered the feeling of blood and guts all over his one functioning hand. He remembered feeling as if he wasn't injured at all as he ripped apart the enemy like he wasn't someone who just lost an arm.

  
And then, he was just standing there, looking down at what once was his opponent.

  
He could barely recognize the alien now.

  
"..ro?"

  
It was a feeble sound but Shiro knew who it was. If it weren't for the deafening silence that over took the arena, he didn't think he would've been able to hear the call. Turning around he saw Keith looking at his general direction as he lay bleeding on the floor. His eyes were open, staring at a distance, but it didn't seem like he can see Shiro at all.

  
Shiro collapse to the ground, the energy suddenly leaving his body. It didn't seem to stop him though, as he crawled the remaining steps to get to his broken lover.

  
" _No_ ," he chocked as he watch the color red seep out into the dirt.

  
"No, no, please," he pleaded as he finally reached Keith's rapidly cooling side.

  
"Keith, Keith, please no," he cried as he cradled the body into his chest.

  
"Keith, please stay with me," the man sobbed as he looked at his beloved's pale face.

  
"Don't leave me."

  
Everything was so wrong.

  
This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

  
_"I love you."_

* * *

  
Its been days.

  
Maybe a week? Or was it months?

  
Shiro didn't really know, everything just seemed like a demented routine to him now.

  
_Fight. Eat. Sleep. Fight. Eat. Sleep._

  
The only way for him to really tell the time is to count down how many times he was sent to either the arena or to the druids.

  
So far, he's fought in the arena 37 times and he had been with the druids 13 times since the last time he saw Keith.

  
That day in the arena, they took Keith away from him and they brought him to Haggar to get his armed fixed. Fixed being a loose term as they tore off what was left of his arm and attached an alien one to his human flesh.  
As for Keith, Shiro didn't know what they did to Keith but he refused to believe that his lover was dead.

  
_Keith was alive._

  
He held on to the idea like a lifeline because he feared that if he were to let go, he would lose the very thing that still keeps him sane. The only thing left that makes him human.

  
Every time he tore down an opponent and every second he was drugged by the druids, he felt like little by little, he was becoming less of what he once was before all of this started.

  
He held on to the thought the Keith was alive because _when_ he comes back, he wanted to be the Shiro that Keith remembered. He didn't want to be the ruthless Champion or the galran weapon, he just wanted to be Keith's Shiro.

  
So while he waits for Keith's return, he will make sure that he stays as Shiro.

  
Not the Champion.

  
Not the weapon.

  
Just _Shiro_.

  
And so, for now, he waits in silence.

**Author's Note:**

> Do you hate me yet?


End file.
